Congressman Andy Levin, Vice Chair of the Committee on Education and Labor and member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor & Pensions, yesterday spoke at the Ferndale Planned Parenthood Clinic about the Trump administration gag rule on Title X funds and the harmful impact it will have on health care in Oakland County.

Congressman Levin was joined by Lori Carpentier, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, and Dave Woodward, Chairman of the Oakland County Commission.

“Title X has been a huge success in the United States. Unintended pregnancies are way down, unintended teenage pregnancies are at historic lows,” saidCongressman Andy Levin. “What's the Trump administration's response? ‘Get rid of all that!’ Take the provider that's helping people the most out of the picture, just so they can satisfy their anti-choice voting bloc. It's against the law, and we expect it to be struck down. We're watching this very closely in Congress, and we're going to do everything in our power to help women keep their access to quality, affordable health care.”

Nearly 50 years ago, Congress established the Title X family planning program to help equalize access to quality family planning and reproductive health care, including affordable birth control and essential preventive care for low-income women and families. New cost-prohibitive physical separation requirements, which are not scientifically based or medically necessary, are aimed at re-directing patients from accessing safe and comprehensive health care through providers like Planned Parenthood. The gag rule also prevents providers from sharing full information about patients’ options. A lawsuit filed yesterday by 21 state attorneys general, including Michigan’s Dana Nessel, aims to block the Trump administration’s gag rule.

“The long-term health consequences could be dire,” Congressman Levin said. “Reversing years of progress, the rule will limit honest conversations and damage the strength of the provider-patient relationship, ultimately crippling patients’ ability to make fully informed health care decisions.”